Inuyasha: Zombies AU
by InuShinigami
Summary: She wanted her old life back, not this nightmare. Yet, no matter how tightly she squeezed her eyes shut, no matter how much she cried and whimpered on the cold tile floor, she did not wake up. The fatigue and nausea would not lessen. The blood drying and caking on her hands did not go away. And she finally admitted to herself that this nightmare wasn't going away anytime soon.
1. Waking Nightmare

**Author's Note:** **I had originally posted this on Tumblr as a three part for Inuvember, but I have made so many plans for this while writing that I decided to turn it into a full story. Hopefully I can balance this with my other stories.**

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 **Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.**

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 **Chapter 1: Waking Nightmare.**

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She felt… heavy.

Not as if she had gained weight or anything, but as if she was being smothered under a mountain of heavy quilts. Yet as the light breeze continued to caress her skin, she knew that not to be the case.

With great effort, her eyes slowly opened, her vision hazy as she tried to get her bearings. Her skin tingled as her fingers twitched, attempting to lightly grasp the sheet under her. Finally, her vision cleared, though not to show any spectacular sight. The dull white ceiling tiles greeted her, along with a fluorescent light fixture, which looked like it had seen better days. The bulbs were missing, and the fixture had many exposed wires, as if someone had gutted it.

Straining her neck, she rolled it to one side, only to see pale light streaming in through dirt streaked windows. One had been swung open, and the curtains flowed gently in the breeze. She carefully began to move her arms, pushing up from what she realized was a hospital bed.

"Wha…" Her voice tapered off, as violent coughs racked her body. With her throat burning, hoarse as if from disuse, a cold dread filled her core. _What is happening? Where am I?_

The coughing began to subside as she rolled onto her side, propped by her elbow. _Okay, just take it easy…_ With extreme caution, she shifted her legs around the railing along the edge of the bed, her body shaking from exertion. _You can do this_ …

"Ahh!" Crashing to the ground, her legs had given out with only the slightest weight pressed on them. She groaned in pain, feeling a sharp, tearing pain from the crook of her elbow. Glancing at the spot, she felt like smacking herself in the head. Blood seeped from hole, likely caused by the IV needle hanging off the edge of the bed.

"Way to go, Kagome…" she gritted out in her hoarse voice. Her coughing returned, but not nearly as violent as it once had been. "Okay… you can do this."

With shaky legs and a firm grasp on the bed railing, she eventually managed to hoist herself up, straining to keep herself from falling again, knees knocking together has her legs quivered from exertion. Slowly letting go of her grip, she made her way closer to the window. "You can… do this," she muttered through gritted teeth. "Just… one… step… at a… _time_."

Her feet stumbled, but fortunately, she had reached her intended destination. Falling forward against the window frame, she gasped a bit, trying to catch her breath, before her eyes focused on the view outside.

And then her eyes widened in horror.

What had once been the impressive city of Tokyo had become a devastated wasteland. A few fires dotted some of the buildings, with broken windows and tall, billowing smoke stacks, and the buildings that weren't currently burning looked as if they had been set aflame at some point. The streets were empty save for debris, and even with her decent view from an upper level of this hospital, she could not see a soul for miles.

"What… what is this?" she asked herself, the silence suddenly feeling suffocating. "What… oh god…"

Ignoring her protesting muscles, she shoved away from the mirror, rushing towards the door to the room on stumbling feet. Yanking the door open, she hurried out before her feet slipping out from under her on the slick hallway floor. Landing harshly on her knees and catching herself on her elbow to keep from smashing her face on the ground. Resting a hand on the ground, her brows scrunched together as she felt the slick, sticky residue she had fallen in.

"Oh yuck…" she muttered, pushing up into a kneeling position. "What is this stuff?..." Barely any light filtered in from outside, and as she held her hand up to her face, all she could tell was that whatever it was, it was dark against her pale skin. "Way to go, Kagome…"

Moving to stand, she clutched her aching elbow, squinting into the darkness. A covered window at the end of the hall was just a few feet of the way. Deciding more light was needed, she quickly made the decision to pull back the curtains. As light filtered in, she felt pleased at the small accomplishment. "Much better!" she declared, clapping her hands together. "Now, to find someone to explain what is—"

Her hands. Slowly unclasping her palms, she stared at her hands, dread gripping her core. The dark residue shone easily in the pale window light. Dark red in color, almost like paint, it covered her palms, her arms, her legs: anything that had touched the ground during her fall. She felt queasy as she finally noted the metallic smell of the residue, and with heavy, panicked breaths, she slowly turned around to look down the hall.

And then she screamed.

Blood. Blood lined the hall floor, smeared on the once pristine tile and splattered on the white walls. Bile rose up her throat as she noticed piles of flesh and bone sporadically left along the hall, what once was a person now looked unidentifiable.

Knees giving out, she dry heaved from her empty stomach, body trembling from shock. This could not be happening. This had to be some sick, twisted nightmare. Yet, no matter how tightly she squeezed her eyes shut, no matter how much she cried and whimpered on the cold tile floor, she did not wake up. The fatigue and nausea would not lessen. The blood drying and caking on her arms and hands did not go away.

And she finally admitted to herself that this nightmare wasn't going away anytime soon.


	2. Moving Forward

**Author's Note:** **So sorry! I meant to post this last week! But here is the 2nd chapter, and I will post the third on Friday.**

 **Celestial Cat: Oh thank you! I hope I don't** **disappoint!**

 **R1D3 the lightning: Yay! Im glad the intro is good! Let's see if I can keep it up~**

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 **Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.**

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 **Chapter 2: Moving Forward.**

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Eventually, she found herself moving again.

Despite the blood and the gore and her want to curl into a ball and disappear, Kagome knew she had to move. She had no idea what was going on, but one thing was clear: people had been murdered here. Horrifically and brutally murdered by someone… or something. Which meant laying on the floor and crying for someone to rescue her was not an option. So, she moved.

She found a locker room, one appearing to be for the doctors and nurses on staff. Rinsing of the blood from her arms in the locker showers had been a welcome relief, the warm water revitalizing her and awakening her weakened muscles as she watched the red slowly drip away from her skin, flowing away to swirl down the drain.

Freshly rinsed, her next goal was easily achieved: finding clothes. A seemingly clean pair of scrubs sat folded and undisturbed in one of the lockers, along with some old sneakers her size sitting alone and forgotten in the room corner. She hoped the owners wouldn't mind… but then her mind drifted to the gore in the hall and she visibly shivered.

"Keep moving, Kagome," she commanded herself yet again. "You can't change what has happened: keep moving."

The silence had begun to weigh on her. She was a social creature by nature, seeking solace in the company of others. This environment weighed on her, and her heart ached for a companion, just a voice to fill the void. So, she found herself filling the void herself.

Walking back through the hall had been more difficult than she had anticipated. A few whimpers would seep through as she found herself having to step in blood from time to time, the curdled blood making unpleasant squelching sounds beneath her sneakers. Yet eventually, she found herself at the other end of the hall, and with a cry of relief, she headed into the stairwell to make her way down to the main floor.

Thankfully windows lined this particular stairwell, allowing her to head downstairs without fear of not seeing the steps. She knew that her usual clumsy ways would have easily meant her demise otherwise. The only issue was her need to rest frequently: she could barely make it down a floor before needing to stop to breath, her muscles protesting down everyone of the ten flights of stairs. "I wasn't _that_ out of shape…" she muttered in frustration. "Just how long was I out…"

Her body shook from exhaustion by the time she reached the bottom floor, and she nearly cried from relief as she shoved the door to the hall open and found no blood and no body parts strewn about. Navigating the halls to the entrance of the building proved difficult, finding herself lost once or twice within the seemingly endless hospital, but eventually she found herself greeted with the beautiful sight of the front lobby…

"Spawn incoming!"

As a group burst through the front door, Kagome barely swallowed her scream as gunfire went off. The group consisted of mostly men, a few women flanking the sides, all dressed in survival gear while toting multiple weapons of various types and sizes.

"Ready yourselves!" A voice rose above the others, and Kagome's gaze fell upon an elderly woman carrying what appeared to be a crossbow in her hands. "Funnel them through the entrance!"

With practiced ease, each member of the ragtag group set off, dispersing around the room. Kagome ducked behind a corner, watching with wide eyes as furniture was rearranged and stacked at the entrance, building temporary walls to make a funneled path through the doors. Gunfire still sounded outside, and just as the finishing touches were made to the makeshift funnel, three men burst through the entrance. "Ready yourselves!"

And then _they_ came.

First through the doors came a burly man, his skin pale and ashy, eyes sunken in, and a vicious, animalistic snarl stretching across his face. Blood caked his mouth and torso, and his arm was shredded as if it had been caught in a bear trap. Barely through the doors, the group opened fire, downing the feral man with ease.

And the pattern continued on like that. More and more of these people… these animalistic, twisted people came pouring in, each with their own deformity or injury, all just as feral looking as the last. Yet for each that came in, someone shot down, causing a pile of bodies to build in the funnel. The people kept coming though, climbing over and shoving aside their dead without pause or concern.

But as she watched, she noticed that some were more deformed than others, moving more slowly within the crowd. And as she examined them from afar, she realized they were not deformed: they were _decayed_. Decaying bodies moving about, attacking the living.

"I'm going to be sick."

As she spoke, a few heads whipped around from the group to stare at her. She found herself pinned under their gaze, specifically the elder woman. Having a full view of her face, Kagome noticed the eye patch covering one eye, making the woman look even more intimidating than before.

While most focused on finishing off the slow trickle of invaders, the others turned their attention on her. She felt pinned under all the heavy gazes, and her voice left her. Finally, the older woman broke the silence.

"What are ye doing here, Kikyo?"

"Huh?" Kagome's brows scrunched together, not having expected that. "Wait, who is Kikyo?"

"No tricks, Kikyo," a man speaks up, stepping forward. He tightly gripped a pistol between his hands, poised to able to lift it on a moment's notice. "What do you want with this place?"

Deep down, Kagome knew that she should have been more concerned with the man ready to aim a gun at her head. But she blamed the stress and fatigue on her lack of judgment.

"Ugh, I'm not this Kikyo person! Will you just back off for at moment!" Stomping her foot, she gestured at the stairs. "I just struggled to get down ten flights of stairs after waking up here with no idea what's going on and a literal blood bath outside my door! And now you are all here shooting those people… things… whatever they are!" By this point, tears had begun to form in her eyes. "What is going on?!"

By this point, everyone in the group had turned their attention on her, varying arrays of shock and confusion as they watched the near hysterical girl rant. Finally, after some silence, the old woman stepped forward, ignoring the protests of the others. "No, you are not Kikyo." Staring intensely at her with her one eye, she asked, "Who _are_ ye, girl?"

"Kagome," she stated while struggling to recompose herself. "My name is Kagome Higurashi."

"What is the date, Kagome?"

"Huh?" she replied, confusion evident on her face. "What do you mean the date? Its May of 2016, right?"

Murmurs rose from the crowd, and the old woman's gaze turned sorrowful. "Oh ye dear child…"

Before Kagome could question her forward, a scream broke out, and all attention fell back to the entrance. More of those things had broken through, once again the faster, stronger ones. Three had plowed through the piles of the bodies with ease, clearing a path and heading straight for the distracted people. Weapons were lifted and fired, but while two were held back, one man found himself being tackled to the ground, his crossbow flying from his grasp.

"Someone help!" he shouted as he struggled to hold the creature's face back. "Please!"

"We can't get a clear shot!" another yelled as the man and the creature flailed about on the floor. "We might hit you!"

The crossbow clattered to the ground at Kagome's feet, her paralyzed with fear. The snarling, grotesque creature looked half rotted, the foul stench invading her nose as she watched helplessly. But suddenly, the thing stilled, lifting its head to sniff the air. Then, bloodshot eyes turned on her, a low predatory growl filling the air.

It felt like watching the world in slow motion. Her mind felt disconnected to her body as she watched the creature leap from the man and sprint towards her. She noticed his ragged jeans, his shredded and bloodied t-shirt with words she had no hope of ever being able to read. She noticed his squared jaw, the shape of what was once a toned torso, now ashy and deteriorating. He might have been handsome once.

She noticed all of this, but while her mind focused on the useless little thoughts, her body moved. She fell to her knees, scooping up the discarded crossbow. She lifted to aim as the creature took a final lunge at her. She took a breath, her finger wrapped around the trigger. And as she released her breath, as her eyes locked with eyes that were once human, she pulled the trigger.

The arrow lodged deep in his chest, throwing off the momentum of his jump. With a disgruntled shriek, the creature collapsed just a foot from her feet. It continued to move, slipping in its own blood as it struggled to rise. However, another arrow wedged itself in the man's skull, and Kagome looked to see the old woman with her own crossbow, lowering it slowly from her target.

"My name is Kaede," the old woman declared, glancing over Kagome for injuries before finally locking eyes. "And there is much you have missed, child."

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked, clutching the now empty crossbow to her chest. Somewhere in her mind she acknowledged that she was probably in shock, but she felt no other way to process what was going on.

As the others began to mingle about, checking ammo and treating injuries, Kaede continued to address Kagome. "The staff had mentioned ye, the girl in the coma. None of us ever saw you though: Dr. Hitomiko would not allow it."

"Hitomiko?..." Kagome whispered. "She… she was a friend of my mama…" As if having a bucket of ice water dumped on her, Kagome's mind began to race. "Mama! My family, oh no…where could they be?!"

"Kagome…" Kaede began hesitantly. "My village is the only settlement left within the confines of Tokyo. And… and I have heard of no family by the name of Higurashi."

"They could still be home—"

"No child, I doubt that." With a heavy sigh, she bluntly stated, "It is no longer May of 2016: Over two years have passed, and the world is no longer the same as what you once knew."

She stepped back as if struck, not processing Kaede's words. "That's impossible. It can't have been that long. I just… It feels like I just saw them yesterday." Clutching at her chest, she declared, "This is just a dream. A nightmare. This can't be real…"

"Kagome, please _listen_. The world has changed: it is much more dangerous than it once was, and… Many have died."

Her blood ran cold, shaking her head in denial. "No, no, no, _no!_ "

And with that, she ran. She ran past the strangers with their guns and sad stares, ran beyond the pleas for her to stop. She ran out the doors to the hospital and out into a world she did not recognize.


	3. Crossing Paths

**Author's Note: So sorry this took so long to post! The past weeks have been hectic. But this chapter is longer than the others, plus a familiar face is introduced, so enjoy!**

 **Celestial Cat: I have plans with her character, so yep! And yeah, her situation will be better explained in the next few chapters.**

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 **Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.**

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 **Chapter 3: Crossing Paths.**

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 _Mama! Souta! Grandpa! I have to… I have to…_

Their names played like a loop in her mind, running over and over like a broken record, driving her to keep moving forward. The soles of her shoes slapping on the sidewalk and her heavy, heaving breaths were the only sounds for what felt like miles. The eerie silence surrounded her, but she did not care. All she could think about was the mantra playing in her through her mind.

Her muscles ached from strain and disuse. How she could keep moving was beyond her. She had never been very athletic to begin with, and if what that old woman implied was true…

She shook her head. Focus on the issue at hand. She needed to find them. Grandpa, Souta, Mama… They were all that mattered at the moment. So hands clutching more tightly to the crossbow in her arms, she pressed forward towards the shrine, her home, her family.

 _I have to find you!_

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"Mama!"

She had finally reached her home, temporarily relieved as she halted at the Shrine grounds entrance. Her throat burned as she leaned over, clutching her side while the muscles tightened to a painful degree. Standing still at the top of stairs to the shrine, her eyes widened in shock and slight fear as she took in her surroundings. Everything looked abandoned. Leaves were scattered everywhere versus the usually neatly swept courtyard. The windows to the house were dirty and covered with grime, looking as if they hadn't been cleaned in months.

"Mama!" she called out again, trudging forward, one hand still tightly clutching her side while the other limply hung with the crossbow in her grasp. "Souta! Grandpa!" No one answered, and she found herself stopping in the center of the courtyard, tears threatening to spill over as she stared down towards the ground. "Where are you?"

As a sob clawed its way up her throat, a voice called out from behind the house. "Who's there?!"

Head snapping up, she quickly lifted up the crossbow even though it held no arrows, clutching it awkwardly as her heart beat heavily in her chest. Hesitantly moving towards the voice, she edged along the side of her house before peeking out around the corner. She didn't even bother to suppress her gasp of surprise.

He looked barely older than her, the young man under the Goshinboku. While his features were handsome, they had a rugged quality to them. His clothes had certainly seen better days, with his jeans heavily worn and stained, and what was once a simple white cotton shirt had become a dirtied and bloodied mess. Unconsciously, she found herself stepping out from around the edge of the house, her eyes locked on the arrow lodged through his shoulder and appearing to be imbedded in the old tree. Her heart lurched, imagining how much pain the poor boy must be in…

 _What had happened to him?_ His eyes remained closed, almost as if he were asleep. _Was he the one who called out?_ A light breeze flowed past her, sweeping her hair into her face before twisting through the young man's which shone almost silver in the noonday sun. Still walking forward, she noticed that not only was he wounded, but also chains pinned him to the tree trunk, his arms restrained to where he had no chance of removing the arrow. _Who could have done this to him_?

As if hearing her thoughts, his eyes opened and locked with hers, and she found herself being pinned with rings of gold. Silver and gold: both colors so unnatural for someone. _What was he?_ _He seemed so unreal…_ _Could I be dreaming?_

Her trancelike state was sharply broken as the boy chose to speak. "So you were the one making all that racket out front. What are you staring at, Kikyo?" he suddenly demanded, his words harsh and course. "Keh, did you come to finally finish the job?"

Her eye twitched. He was real alright.

"And what the fuck are you wearing?"

A real asshole.

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Inuyasha was pissed.

He was within his right to be, given what had transpired, so as anger grew on her face, he only grew angrier. "Did you come here to gloat? Well spare me, I'd rather you just go ahead and shoot—"

"Will you just shut up!" His jaw went slack mid rant, his eyes wide as he stared at the girl in front of him. "Ugh, I don't know who you are or who this 'Kikyo' girl is that everyone is talking about…" She strode forward, fury clearly visible on her face as she jabbed a finger into his chest. "But my name is _Kagome_. _Ka-go-me_. You are such a jerk!"

His eyes slowly blinked as he watched her: she acted so parallel from Kikyo. No guarded demeanor, no tranquility under even the most stressful of situations. He watched this girl, her rage clearly visible from the tension in her shoulders, the heavy scowl on her face, the anger flaring in her sapphire eyes…

Sapphire…?

"You aren't Kikyo."

"Thank you!" she cried out in exasperation, throwing her arms in the air. "Now, if you are done being a jerk, can you tell me what in the hell you are doing chained to Goshinboku?"

He finally took a moment to notice this girl: though her face was similar to Kikyo's, she was slightly younger looking, and her skin was darker, though it still held an almost sickly pallor. And based off of the nurse's scrubs she wore, he could only assume she had recently been holed up in a hospital for a while. But he also noticed the crossbow she clutched, one much like what Kikyo had carried…

Shaking his head, he simply mumbled, "Can you just get me down from here?" As her eyes narrowed, he added a reluctant, "Please?"

A moment's pause, and then her personality seemed to do a complete 180. A happy smile stretched across her face while her eyes glinted from what she saw as a victory. "I'm assuming you don't have a key?" At the curt shake of his head, she responded, "Just a sec!" before darting off around the side of the house.

"Hey!" he called out. "Don't just leave me here!"

"Relax! I'm trying to find some bolt cutters!" Her voice sounded a bit distant but rang out clearly over the empty courtyard. He then heard the sound of a heavy creaking door followed by the sounds of crashing equipment and a slight shriek. "I'm okay!" More crashing about. "They aren't in the shed! I'm gonna go check the well house!"

He groaned in disbelief. "How has this girl survived so long?" She was everything you shouldn't be in this new world: clumsy, weak, trusting…

" _Ahh!_ "

And _far_ too loud.

"What in the hell do you keep dropping, wench?!" he shouted, brows furrowed. He hadn't heard a crash that time…

As she came sprinting around the corner of house, bolt cutters in one hand and a crossbow in the other, she ran in an almost comical way, arms and legs flailing about in a panic. But the panic in her eyes… the fear let him know that things were about to get messy.

Not even speaking, she tossed the crossbow at his feet and readied the bolt cutters. "What did you see?" he demanded as she struggled to cut through the chains. "Spawn or fodder?"

"What… in the world… are you talking… about?" she ground out between attempts to squeeze the handles of the bolt cutters.

Inuyasha felt like smacking himself. She couldn't even cut through a simple chain or answer an even simpler god damned question. "Wench, what attacked you?"

"Centipedes!" she bit out, still struggling with the chain.

He blinked. "I'm sorry, but did you just say _centipedes_? Are you seriously freaking out over a god damned bug—"

Stopping her cutting to glare at him with the same fire in her eyes as before, she snapped, "There were centipedes _crawling through her face!_ "

Before he could question what she meant, a gut-churning shriek pierced the air. Looking up towards the corner of the house the girl had come running from, Inuyasha stared down the source of Kagome's fear. The gaunt woman was deathly pale, her black hair long and matted. Dried and caked blood cracked at the corners of her mouth, and a creepy grin spread across her face as her head slowly tilted, watching the pair under the giant tree.

And as her grin spread, a hole on the woman's cheek spread open, giving room for a large, gnarly looking centipede to come crawling out, moving to nest into her messy hair.

"You need to get me free," Inuyasha murmured lowly. "You need to get me free _now_."

"What do you think I'm trying to do here?!" Kagome snapped.

"The girl…" the woman cooed, her voice cooing. "She smells… absolutely… _divine_." Crouching forward, she screeched, "I shall make her my next meal!"

Kagome screamed as the woman lunged forward, to cross the courtyard. With a sudden burst of strength, the chain snapped under the bolt cutters. "Finally!" she exclaimed happily as the chains fell away. Lunging up, she reached for the arrow, bracing against Inuyasha's chest as she gave it a sharp tug. "I got it!"

Searing pain shot through his shoulder as the arrow was yanked out, but he didn't have long to focus on it. His ears rung as Kagome let lose a blood curdling scream, and he felt his stomach sink as he watched the Centipede Woman fling the girl away, tossing her aside as if she weighed nothing. Kagome landed on her back, gasping as the air was knocked out of her.

As the woman turned her attention on the stunned girl, Inuyasha sprung into action. All thoughts of pain were forgotten and the gaping wound in his shoulder screaming in protest as he shot forward was all but ignored. Darting towards the bushes just out of reach, he reached in, digging around for an old friend. Hand brushing against the familiar cold metal, an almost feral grin stretched across his face.

"Hey ugly!"

Pausing in her approach towards the terrified Kagome, the woman's head whipped around to glare at the audacious boy, hissing in anger. But the hiss abruptly halted as she her eyes widened in horror.

Flexing his hands on the metal, adrenaline coursing beneath his skin, he shouted, "Keep your hands to yourself!" And with that, he braced himself, his hand tightening on the double barreled shotgun as he lifted to aim. She let out a screech, taking off towards him, only to have her screech cut off by the deafening bang of shotgun. She gave a gurgled cry of pain as she clutched at the gaping hole in her chest.

But she did not stop. Moving forward again, Inuyasha pulled the trigger once more, setting off the second round into her chest, making her keel over onto the ground. Taking advantage of her collapse, Inuyasha moved to rummage back through the bush, reaching for his other weapon which had been discarded here. "C'mon, c'mon, where is it…"

The shriek caused him to look up just in time to see the woman loom over his kneeling form. Even with the two gaping holes in her chest, she had still managed to reach him. "Prepare to die!" she screamed, her voice garbled from the blood filling her damaged lungs. Lifting her arm as if to strike him as he felt his fingers finally curl around the object he sought.

But before either could strike the other, another voice called out. "Don't you dare hurt him!"

Inuyasha edged around the woman only to see Kagome standing about a dozen yards away. She stood firm, quickly loading the arrow she had pulled from his shoulder into the crossbow. For a moment, he saw Kikyo in her, in the way she held and aimed her weapon, in the way the wind blew through her long ebony tresses. But when he saw her eyes, the sapphire pools that burned with an unnatural fire, he only saw this girl.

Kagome.

The moment shattered, however, as the girl fired, only for the arrow to come inches from grazing his nose.

Falling back on his rear, he angrily shouted, "What the fuck was that?! Are you _trying_ to kill me?!"

She huffed, stomping her foot on the ground as she glared at him. "I was trying to _help_ , you ungrateful jerk!"

The Centipede woman looked ready to interject, but her words were stopped as a large blade swiped through her neck, severing her head from her spine. "Well stop! I don't need your help!" Twisting the oversized blade to plant the tip into the ground, he watched in slight amusement as the girl's jaw dropped at the sight of his weapon. But the amusement was fleeting. "So what in the hell are you doing with that weapon if you can't even aim it?"

Shaking her head as he strolled casually towards her, she weakly replied, "I… I accidentally picked it up today…" Gaze dropping to the dismembered head, she shivered as the centipede crawled back out of her hair and into the hole in her mouth. "What _is_ she?"

Now it was Inuyasha's turn to let his jaw drop in shock. "What do ya mean 'what is she?' She's an incarnate for crying out loud!" Noticing the blank expression she gave in response, he began to grow even more confused. "How can you _not_ know what an incarnate is?"

"I…" Her eyes began to dull, her body quivering from overexertion. "I… don't…" Legs giving out, she fell to her knees, and Inuyasha dove to the ground, catching her before her head could fall. "I don't feel good," she stated in a whisper, her eyes unfocused and half-lidded.

"Hey, take it easy," he chided, shifting her in his arms. "Everything is going to be—" As his hands grazed over her sides, he felt a warm, sticky substance on the scrub top. Looking down at where his hand was, he suddenly panicked.

Blood.

Laying her out carefully, he rolled her over on the side that appeared uninjured. She had already fallen into unconsciousness, her breathing light and peaceful. But Inuyasha felt no peace as he lifted the edge of her top. Nothing but dread filled him as his eyes zoned in on the bloodied wound.

The jagged teeth marks were as clear as day to him.

"Why…" Gritting his teeth, he turned his gaze away, unable to face her. "God damn it, why her…"

It wasn't fair.

His fist clenched as he looked back towards her peaceful, sleeping face. Sure she was annoying, and yes, she nearly shot him. But she was good, innocent, more so than anyone he had encountered since the world had turned to a living Hell. She hadn't questioned who he was, she simply helped him. She didn't deserve this. _She didn't deserve this_.

And he didn't deserve to have to kill her.

Rolling her onto her back, he carefully arranged her hands to lay on her stomach. She didn't deserve this… but she didn't deserve to be left to turn into one of them. She had saved his life: he owed her that much.

Moving quickly, he went and pulled his blade out of the ground. Tessaiga. His father had commissioned the blade years ago, back when he was just a baby. Regular swords had not been enough for the man, needing a larger, heavier blade to pose a challenge for him after the change. Now, here Inuyasha was, wielding his father's blade, fighting a war his father created, all while the man was off only Kami knows where.

And here Inuyasha was, having to end this girl's life because of his father's mistakes.

Walking back over, he kneeled next to her. He would wait. He would wait for the signs of turning before he ended her. While he would not let her roam as one of those monsters, he refused to kill her as a human. This kill already unsettled him enough: he would not add that to his nightmares.

And so he sat vigil next to her sleeping body. The effects were usually quick to take place with incarnate bites: only a few short minutes to completely turn, for the skin to turn ash grey, for the eyes to sink into their sockets, for the monster to be born.

Yet he sat. And waited. And waited. Minutes ticked by slowly, and then, something miraculous occurred with the girl before Inuyasha's eyes:

Absolutely nothing.


End file.
